Perspectives

How to Gain and Retain Top Talent

Michael Caicco

Hiring skilled or trained employees is a challenge for most employers in today’s market.

The cost of attracting employees is high and is continuing to increase. However attracting employee is not enough. Companies need to invest in retaining these employees as well. How do companies retain employees? Competitive salary, benefits, good working conditions and extras (community lounge, fitness area etc.), ensuring a good work-life balance among others are very important attractors and retainers.

But the most important expectations according to a recent study is a commitment by companies to make sure that employees obtain proper training and skills updates related to the position. Employees feel that it is the employers’ responsibility to keep them up to date with their skills.

To Sing or Not to Sing… Should the Complaining Customer Decide?

Michael Caicco

Have you heard about the singing bus driver from Ottawa who was asked by his employer to “stop singing” after 11 years of serenading his passengers?

The transit company responded to passenger complaints about the “singing”. Since this story was released, there has been an outpouring of support on Facebook and in the community for the singing bus driver. People have weighed in on both sides of this issue, but it appears that the majority say “let him sing”.

Was the employer right to ask the driver to stop something he had done every day on his route for 11 years? Was there a creative solution to this problem? Should every customer complaint be treated equally? Sometimes organizations make the wrong decisions while trying to do the “right” thing.

We are all familiar with the saying “you can’t please all the people, all of the time”. The reality is that unhappy customers complain, and happy customers rarely let you know how they feel, unless you ask. In trying to provide good customer service and respond to customer complaints, the transit company may have angered some of its other customers who weren’t given the opportunity to voice their opinion. 

Responding to customer complaints and resolving issues can be a challenging task. Before you make decisions that change your service delivery you need to know what the majority of your customers are thinking. If you only focus on customer complaints you may end up heading off in the wrong direction. Do your research, look for a creative solution and most importantly use common sense. 

Personally, I would choose the singing bus driver over a surly unpleasant driver any morning.

Career Advice from Steve Jobs

Carol Irwin

There has been a lot of media coverage surrounding the life of Steve Jobs since his passing last month. Though I have been a big fan of Apple products since my son got his first iPod a few years ago, I must admit I didn’t know much about Apple’s founder and CEO.

In the last few weeks, Steve Jobs’ life story has been told and retold on the internet, radio, television and in his already published biography. I took some time, during a road trip with my son’s hockey team recently, to learn more about him. I read an interesting Maclean’s Magazine article about him and watched an inspiring speech Jobs made at Stanford University’s 2005 Commencement Ceremony.

Like many great visionaries, Jobs was faced with obstacles and setbacks during his life and career but he pursued his ideas and the things he loved with passion and did not back down under pressure. In his Stanford address, Jobs reflects back on some of the defining moments in his life. He told the graduates to “Trust your gut” and “Love what you do”.

The challenge of finding a job you love and pursuing it with passion applies to both new graduates and seasoned professionals.   Reflecting on our lives and asking ourselves “Is this where I want to be?”, as Jobs did many times during his career, is important.

Among the many things he did, Steve Jobs shared some career advice that is worth repeating. Take a look at Steve Job’s entire speech to Stanford’s 2005 graduating class.

Robots will take our children’s jobs! … Is this the future?

Carol Irwin

Can you imagine a future where you will get legal advice or a medical diagnosis from a robot?  We have witnessed technology and automation replace manufacturing and administrative jobs, but can robots really perform highly skilled jobs in the areas of medicine, science, engineering and law?  It is not that far in the future according to Farhed Manjoo from Slate Magazine, who recently wrote a series of articles on the advances of technology in highly specialized fields of work. After all computers do make the best specialists, don’t they?

I recently heard Farhed interviewed and it got me thinking about the future of work for my own children. My son is in grade nine this year and will be participating in the November 2, “Take Your Kids to Work Day”, along with over 200,000 young people across Canada. What advice can we offer young people about career choices?

Today, there are shortages of workers in many highly skilled professions, particularly in engineering. But what will the world of work be like in ten years when these students are graduating or in another twenty years when they are experienced professionals? Farhed suggests that the highly skilled jobs least at risk of being automated are those that involve a high degree of human interaction – a skill that the robot has not yet perfected.

As humans, we do have some other advantages.  We can dream, imagine, think creatively, be flexible, change our minds, use our senses, and have feelings and opinions.   We need to tell young people to embrace technology, choose a career that inspires them, be open to new ideas and always be ready for change.

Let me know what you think about this issue on twitter @FusionCareer.

Click here to hear a short interview (found midway down the page), “White-collar Robots”, CBC Spark, Nora Young talks with Farhed Manjoo

Click here to read “Will robots steal your job?” If you are highly educated, you should still be afraid”, Farhed Manjoo, Slate Magazine